Fantastic article by Chad Waterbury on full body workouts. I've been following Chad for several years now and he is by far the very best out there. He is the smartest most innovative trainer when it comes to performance training. Take a look at component 1 of this 2 part series on why you should be doing full body workouts.
By: Chad Waterbury
Training your entire body, each time you suit up for a workout, is the quickest way for 99% of lifters to gain muscle mass. I can’t make it any simpler than that. Full body training (aka total body training) is as popular as ever simply because that’s what the vast majority of lifters out there need.
I’ve written countless articles and three books that revolve around full body training: Muscle Revolution, Huge in a Hurry, and Body of F.I.R.E. Actually, if you do a Google search for “full body training†or “total body training,†the T-nation article I wrote a few years back on the subject is the first to come up. (Out of 67,300,000 possible results.)
It’s safe to say that my name is synonymous with the full body training philosophy, yet I still get frequent emails from avid lifters who want to try it but don’t know how you can set up an efficient plan.
So that’s why I decided to write this post. With the following information you’ll have all the tools you should make full body training work for you.
First, let me explain why this type of training works so well. There are three reasons: exercise selection, hormonal response, and frequency.
Exercise Selection: when you train every thing in one workout you must be wise with the exercises you choose. Of all of the variables that make or break your muscle-gaining efforts, exercise selection is number 1. Any body component split could be efficient if it’s comprised of compound exercises. However, whenever you target particular muscle groups with body component split training you invariably do a bunch of isolation exercises that have small to no impact on adding muscle to your frame. With full body training, there’s no time to mess with concentration curls, kickbacks, and a host of other subpar exercises. By default, full body training steers you to compound exercises that give you the most bang for your buck.
Hormonal Response: three of probably the most essential hormones for building muscle are testosterone, insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), and growth hormone. Research shows that growth hormone will increase after an intense bout of exercise. And when growth hormone increases it signals the body to produce more IGF-1, a powerful anabolic hormone. Research also shows that working the largest muscle groups results in the highest output of growth hormone. A full body workout creates an intense demand for your body to upregulate anabolic hormones - significantly higher than workouts that only work a few muscle groups (eg, arms and shoulders).
Through study, it’s been shown that the amount of muscle mass stimulated in a workout is proportionate to the amount of testosterone that’s released. Put simply, workouts that stimulate the most muscles produce probably the most testosterone. I’ll concede that the relationship between strength training and the impact it has on testosterone is still a little fuzzy, but my empirical data (and typical sense) tells us that full body workouts augment testosterone much better than a day of arm training.
Frequency: no one would argue against the principle that training a muscle group much more often outcomes in faster muscle gains (supplied you can recover between the workouts). With full body training, each of the primary muscle groups are stimulated at least three times per week, as opposed to a body part split that only hits every thing once per week (yes, there’s some carryover between a chest/back and arms/shoulders workouts, but you get the point). Make no mistake about it: training much more frequently is the key to building muscle quick.
Nevertheless, you can’t just train every thing three times per week and recover from those workouts unless you follow these steps.
Step #1: Begin with 3 exercises in one workout. One of the problems lifters run into when they embark on a full body training plan is they attempt to do too numerous exercises in 1 workout. For a workout to be full body, it only has to consist of an upper body pull, an upper body push, along with a squat, deadlift or lunge variation. Here are two examples of a full body workout:
Full body workout Example 1
1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift
Full body workout Example 2
1A One-arm dumbbell row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge
As you are able to see, a full body workout can consist of single-limb exercises, too. Full body training isn't just about bent-over rows, push presses, and squats. There are countless exercise variations you are able to use within the workouts. Later on I’ll tell you how to add much more exercises to a full body workout in order to target lagging muscle groups. But for the first few weeks, start with three exercises per workout to get your body accustomed to this kind of training.
Step #2: Perform a different exercise for each workout throughout the week. This is where lifters frequently get tripped up. In the event you attempt to do a full body workout that consists of the chin-up/dip/deadlift circuit three times per week you’ll get overtrained in no time. Every workout throughout the week should consist of different variations of an upper body pull, upper body push, and squat, deadlift or lunge variation. Here’s a sample weekly workout plan.
Monday
1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift
Wednesday
1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge
Friday
1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat
Now you have a weekly workout plan that consists of various exercises in every workout. Repeat this plan for 6 weeks, and then pick new exercises. The exercises for your next 6-week phase don’t need to be drastically different. Simply switching from dumbbells to a barbell or kettlebells will do the trick. For instance, you could do the front squat with a barbell for 6 weeks, and then do a front squat although holding two kettlebells for the next 6 weeks. Or you could do a totally different exercise. It’s up to you and the equipment that’s available.
Step #3: Use a various rep scheme with each workout throughout the week. Full body workouts are demanding and they’ll push your limits of recovery if you’re not used to them. Therefore, 1 simple trick to help your body recover would be to use a different number of reps per set in each workout. This, by the way, is just another way of telling you to vary the load throughout the week. You can’t use the exact same weight for a set of 10 as you use for a set of 3 reps. This is a good thing since various loads have a various impact on your nervous system. It’s easier for your nervous system to recover from three various loads throughout the week than it is for a constant load, particularly if it’s heavy.
So let’s construct on the sample full body training plan we already have and add in the set/rep parameters.
Monday
Sets x Reps: 8×3
1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift
Wednesday
Sets x Reps: 5×5
1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge
Friday
Sets x Reps: 4×10
1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat
Now you have a weekly plan that consists of different exercises and various loads (reps) in every workout throughout the week. This is how you can make full body training work for natural guys who have a limited capacity to recover. I’ve never worked with a client who couldn’t recover from the above program, supplied their nutrition and sleep are in order.
Here’s an additional trick if you’re truly limited by the number of exercises you can do. Begin by setting up a weekly plan that consists of the exercises that suit your available equipment. Use the exact same set/rep parameters I listed above. Do that plan for 6 weeks. Then, when the 6 weeks are up you are able to alter the weekly plan by simply moving around the set/rep parameters from one workout to another. Here’s what I mean.
Monday
Sets x Reps: 8×3
1A Pull-up with a narrow grip
1B Decline dumbbell bench press
1C Front squat
Wednesday
Sets x Reps: 5×5
1A Chin-up
1B Dip
1C Deadlift
Friday
Sets x Reps: 4×10
1A One-arm row
1B One-arm shoulder press
1C Reverse lunge
Now you've a entire new program to do for an additional 6 weeks while using the same exercises you did within the initial phase.
In component II I’ll explain how to modify a full body workout to burn fat, construct strength, or bring up a lagging body part.
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